So Wroclaw is not only a city of nice dwarfs, but also a place of residence of a large group of much less nice characters. But such are the great metropolises. Good and bad at the same time, bright and dark, like day and night.
Wroclaw, inhabited by a million people and a thousand dwarves, tastes best from a bicycle
© City Hall of Wroclaw
In the end, however, what matters is the passion one can feel for the city, the strength of its genius loci, its real potential. This one is huge in Wroclaw, in a sense—the strongest in Poland. I finally understand where it all comes from.
With such knowledge one can think more boldly about the future of Wroclaw. I see it in very optimistic tones: Wroclaw's universities and colleges will climb up the rankings, businesses will spin better and better, surviving successive crises, renovations will be completed, and through them will emerge a refreshed, aesthetically pleasing, renovated historic center, surrounded by a modern metropolis of over a million people, which is so easy to love to death.
Thank you, Breslau, for this cycling, totally passionate experience, rediscovery. For the magnificent bike paths on the dykes, for the opportunity to see through your eyes looking at you for the first time on such a scale from the perspective of water and the great German past. It was a great pleasure, so different than before to meet you. My gut tells me that this is just the beginning of some great new adventure.
Because something must be done with these two new perspectives in the future. 1—"Germany's most important city" is an important observation, there are many clues in it for those designing the development of Wroclaw and building the city's narrative; 2—a renewed, deeper understanding of the former port character also leads straight into the future. This water character seemingly reverberated, but it did not reverberate properly, did not come through loudly enough. In addition to the Soviet theft of the Oder fleet, this was influenced by the communist reality, in which people did not own private yachts that could re-energize and make full use of this Oder.
The task for the future, therefore, would be to restore Breslau tothat former greatness, fame and glory, to awaken a giant that had been sleeping a bit, and to make a great—much greater—return to the Oder.
Wroclove—it is not difficult to fall in love with this city: it is beautiful and has character
Photo: Grzegorz Rajter © Wroclaw City Hall
With these two tasks, the stage of trivialization of Wroclaw that occurred in post-war Poland can finally be ended. This is no ordinary Polish provincial city—this is a player from a completely different, higher league, which for a while experienced a form of amnesia.
Just to conclude: if I were to advise how best to get down to exploring Wroclaw on your own, apart from biking and swimming on the Oder River, I would advise first of all to have time (this city should not be absorbed in a hurry, it's best to stay here quietly, at least a few days). It is also necessary to look at Wroclaw from a bird's eye view, maps, recognize the shapes of the islands, the course of the river currents. And then look at it all from three more perspectives: the observation deck at the top of the Sky Tower, then the Kolejkov located on its second floor, and finally face this magnificent Wroclaw already face to face, from river and street level.
It was one of the best urban peregrinations of my life. I'm not saying goodbye to Wroclaw, I'm definitely saying: see you later! Wroclaw: we need to talk about your new entelechy.
Mateusz Zmyślony
Illustrations provided courtesy of the Author and the City Hall of Wroclaw.
